Reuters is reporting today that Sirius XM and Google have teamed up to bring all of Sirius XM’s content to Google TV. Sirius XM is the satellite radio company that hosts content such as The Howard Stern Show, Oprah Radio, and Martha Stewart Living Radio. The official announcement of the Sirius XM app for Google TV is set to be made at this week’s Google I/O conference. There had already been rumors this week that a “big” Google TV announcement was incoming at the conference, and it seems that the Sirius XM deal is at least part of that announcement.
According to the Reuters report, the Sirius XM App will only be available for use to subscribers of its satellite radio service. Also, Google TV will host some Sirius XM programming not broadcast over car satellite radios including ESPN SportCenter, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Radio, and Carlin’s Corner. Sirius XM told Reuters that the Google TV app will be available sometime this summer.
Google has been working to separate its Google TV platform from other streaming boxes such as the Apple TV an Roku HD. In the past few months Google has added new features, such as Netflix-style recommendations, to Google TV, and has updated the Google TV YouTube app to include recommendations and a channel search. Device manufacturers have also begun to embrace Google TV more recently, with Sony debuting a Google TV Internet Player in the UK next month, and LG launching a TV set with Google TV integration back in May. With events such as the Google TV hackathon, Google is attempting to convince developers that Google TV is to streaming TV what Android is to smartphones: an open environment for creative app development.
